Keep your Friends Close, and your Family Closer
by canadianreaders
Summary: It was just another simple mission for Zach and Cammie, until a group of teenage thieves decide to crash the party. Now, the Heist crew and the Gallagher team find themselves forced to work together, and if they don't succeed, the CIA may be the ones to pay the price.
1. Chapter 1 - Cammie's POV

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Ally Carter. Only the plot is ours.

Chapter 1

_Cammie's POV_

Pros and Cons of Sitting Watch in an Air Vent for the CIA

A List by Cameron Ann Morgan

Pro: It gives you a good excuse as to why you didn't finish your English paper

Con: You can't actually tell your English teacher that you were in said air vent as it would compromise the mission

Con: You may have forgot to eat dinner before coming to sit in this vent for four hours

Pro: It gives a girl a lot of time to think

Con: Thinking is really distracting you from your mission of watching this painting

Con: The person you are thinking about really should be sitting in this vent with you

I look down at my watch for the twenty-third time this hour. I know it's kind of pointless, as my internal clock is always ticking, but I still check just in case it's wrong. Nope, my internal clock is exactly on time.

Where is Zach? He was supposed to meet me fifteen minutes ago to switch up. I've been sitting in here for just over four hours, and my stomach is really not co-operating. College food may not compare to Chef Louis' Creme Brulee, but anything would be good right about now.

I look down through the vent that opens up onto the library once more, trying desperately to ignore the pleas of my stomach for food. I have always thought the library at Georgetown was the best building on campus. There are dark circular wooden tables spread throughout the main floor, with wooden book shelves on almost all of the walls. A great chandelier that hangs from the ceiling, casting the room in a bright glow. The mezzanine looks down on the main floor, filled completely with row upon row of shelves, all stocked full with books, from novels to encyclopedias. And on the wall right next to the staircase leading to the mezzanine is a painting that just arrived this morning. The one that I am supposed to be watching.

The painting shows a dirt road, surrounded on either side by trees, leading up to a two-story white house with green window shutters. The leaves on the trees are just starting to turn colour as they do in autumn. It's beautiful.

There is also some secret CIA message in it somewhere, but I don't have the clearance to know what it is. But I have been tasked, along with Zach and Townsend, to watch over it until the CIA agent comes to pick up the message on the 21st. It's currently the 14th, (the 15th in an hour and seventeen minutes) so I still have a week left of this. Not the most exciting mission, but a mission all the same.

I am just starting to let my mind wander once again, when the doors to the library below swing open, and in walk six people who look to be around sixteen.

Now, usually there aren't many people in the library this late, unless they seriously need to study. More unusual was the fact that these kids are in no way old enough to go to university, and it is a little pre-meditated to tour universities at sixteen. And what kind of tour happens at 11:00 pm?

All of this sets me on edge, making me narrow my eyes as I watch as they walk through the room. Then, with a look around the room once, the short girl with cropped mousy brown hair and a tall boy starts to walk toward the doors while the other four people go towards the painting.

"Zach!" I whisper-yell into my comms. "Where are you? We have a slight situation."

I get no answer. I am going to kill Zach once I get my hands on him. I start to open the air vent so that I can jump down into the library, when I hear shuffling from behind me. I look back to see Zach crawling towards me, a bright red rose in his hand. His trademark smirk is plastered on his face, which only slightly falters when he sees my piercing look.

He comes up to me and places the rose in my hand, and kisses my cheek.

"Hey, Gallagher Girl," Zach whispers in my ear, sending shivers up my spine despite the situation. "What's up?"

I simply point down through the now open vent and his smirk falls as he sees the scene below. I give him a nod which he returns before grabbing the edge of the hole and leaping into the library below, rose still in hand.

A/N We are canadianreaders! This is our first story so please read & review. Constructive criticism is welcome!


	2. Chapter 2 - Kat's POV

**Disclaimer: All rights to Ally Carter.**

_Chapter 2_

Kat's POV

"Come on Kat. Stop worrying," Hale whispered loudly. "This is a library. No one watches a library. Besides, Simon's already looped the footage. This is childsplay for us."

Angus, Hamish, Hale, Gabrielle, Nick and I were currently in the library of Georgetown University. It's actually quite pretty, lots of ceiling-high bookcases and dark wooden tables. Georgetown would be the place I would want to go to university if I wanted or was able to. Knowing Hale I probably wouldn't even last a week here.

"Shut up Hale," I whisper angrily. I have a bad feeling about this. Like someone's watching us. "Let's just grab the painting and get out."

This was a weird heist for us. A few days ago a man had requested a meeting, which was not especially odd. Quite a few people contacted us wanting lost paintings back or stolen gems returned to them. But this man was odd, he acted like he didn't really want the painting returned to him. He requested us to leave the painting in an abandoned warehouse a few minutes away from the university. Not something someone would normally do with a family heirloom. But I didn't question it, the man asked us to return the painting to him and the heist was too simple to refuse.

Suddenly, a loud noise coming from Angus and Hamish's direction shook me from my thoughts.

"Guys," I said angrily looking at the small curls of smoke coming from some unknown object in Angus' hands. "Cut it out! We're on a heist, now is not the time."

"Sorry mom!" They say in unison resulting in another glare from me.

I continue to survey our surroundings, but I can't shake the feeling that my friends and I are not alone.

"Angus, Haymish, Nick, start getting the painting from the wall. Make sure there aren't any sensor that you'll set off," I instruct them, getting back into heist mode, "That's the last thing we need. Gabrielle you wait here, make sure nothing goes wrong. If you hear anyone coming towards the painting stop them."

Before I can continue Angus interrupts, "Are you and your boyfriend going to sneak off for…"

I cut Angus off before he can continue, "Hale and I are going to wait near the doors, stop anyone from coming in. I doubt anyone's going to come to the library at this time of night, but better safe than sorry. If anyone does get passed though, it's up to you to stop them, Gabrielle."

Ever since the team had found out that Hale and I are dating it's been non-stop teasing. Quite a few of Angus and Hamish's pranks have involved heart shaped confetti that fall from random places when Hale and I walk into a room or sit down together. Gabrielle has offered lots of tips, some of which are unusual enough to make me wonder if she's joking or not, but most of the time she has good advice. She always manages to make Hale's jaw drop with the clothing she picks, which is super helpful considering my limited fashion knowledge. Simon seemed non-plused about the whole thing. I'm pretty sure he knew about it before it slipped out, but he hasn't been so bad, except for some comments he makes over the comms. Nick, the person who I was most worried about, has been the best about the whole thing. He never jokes about it, well not as much as everyone else at least, and he didn't freak out when he found out. It's a lot better between him and Hale now too, which is really helping the team.

"Kat? Kat," Hales voice brings me back to the present.

"Alright, lets go, we have to have the painting out of here by 12 am. Simon only has so long on the cameras" I state and everyone starts on their task, or at least attempts to.

"I take left, you take right, Waiden?" I ask Hale as we begin to walk towards the doors.

He laughs softly. "Sure, but you're way off."

Just as he and I start to pass the first row of books two people, teenagers I think, jump out from behind it. One is a girl, she looked to be around 5'5", average weight and has dirty blonde hair that hangs loosely around her shoulders. The other is a boy, around 6', well-built with dark hair. He's attractive but not as attractive as Hale, at least not to me. I don't have time to think more about this very pressing matter though as the boy and the girl start heading, very quickly (and scarily), towards Hale, I and the rest of our group.

**A/N: Hope you like it so far! Please read and review!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Cammie's POV

**Disclaimer: All rights to Ally Carter.**

_Chapter 3_

Cammie's POV

As soon as my feet hit the ground, I am off, soundlessly darting behind one of the bookshelves, knowing Zach is right behind me. I softly set my rose on the shelf and turn to Zach, giving him a silent thank you, causing him to smile slightly. Just then the short girl and the boy start to walk past the shelf we are currently crouching behind and Zach and I both step out from behind it. Zach starts to move towards the rest of the group near the painting as I focus on the two in front of me.

Both of them look bewildered, they obviously weren't expecting company. They both look to be about fifteen or sixteen. The girl is only about 5'2'', but she has the confident air of someone who is respected. Her piercing brown eyes look directly into mine and I can tell that despite her bewilderment, she was not completely taken by surprise. It looks as if part of her was expecting this. The boy, on the other hand, looks completely shocked. He has sandy blonde hair, and is very tall, probably as tall as Zach. He is attractive with his blue eyes, but not as attractive as Zach, but I'm kind of biased. He looks down at the girl and I can tell by the look in his eyes that he cares for her.

Neither of them makes a move to fight me, and so I don't either. It's a rule among spies. Violence is only to be used when necessary. When someone is fighting back. Instead I simply stand tall and try to think of what Bex or Macey would do in this situation.

"So, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" I ask coyly, taking out the plastic handcuffs from my pocket. It's seems kind of unnecessary for two teenagers, but you should never underestimate the threat. That's CovOps rule number seven.

They give each other a quick glance before simultaneously extending their hands. I fasten the handcuffs around their wrists, leaving a bit of room. I give them a slightly apologetic look before glancing over to Zach. I can't forget what they were about to do, who they are as of now – enemies of the CIA – even if they are so young. I have to stay hard. As of right now, I am not a nineteen-year-old girl, I'm an operative.

I look over to Zach to see that he has done the same with the other four – a blonde girl who looks to be around 5'8'', two boys with dark hair who look so similar they must be brothers, the only difference being 4 inches in height, and a boy with dirty blond hair and a laid back look on his face. I stand behind the two that I have and get them to move towards the middle of the room where the others are.

"Okay, sit down," I say, my tone hard, gesturing to the table in front of us. The six of them move to sit as Zach and stand in front of them.

"And don't even try to run, you won't get too far," Zach adds. I can practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Who do you think you are?" The blond girl asks. She has a small nose and big eyes, and that air about her that says she knows she is pretty. Kind of like Macey, except Macey would never try to flirt with Zach, as this girl is so obviously trying to do now. "You can't just _arrest us _for being in the library. It's a public space. And it's not like you're police anyway. You're just students."

"Students second, yes. But operatives first," I tell her, quickly showing her my badge that was in my back pocket. I usually don't take it places with me, just luck that I decided to bring it tonight. "CIA. And no we can't arrest you for being in the library, but we can arrest you for trying to steal a painting." I turn to Zach, speaking in Romanian. "Să-i întrebarea aici numindu-l în, doar să știu ce avem de-a face cu," _Let's question them here first before calling it in, just to know what we're dealing with. _

Zach nods before turning back to the group, "Let's start with names," he says seriously. His eyes take on that look that he always has when questioning someone, as if he is both very detached and very interested at the same time.

"Katarina Bishop," The short girl says. I can tell just by the way the others look at her that she is the 'leader' of the group. "But you can call me Kat."

"Hale," the tall boy says. I give him a glare, but he is obviously not inclined to tell us more. For some reason those two names - Kat and Hale - sounded vaguely familiar to me.

The blonde girl looks me dead in the eyes, obviously done with trying to flirt, "Gabrielle."

The taller of the two brothers speaks, "Angus Bagshaw, and this is my brother Hamish."

Hamish nods before the boy at the end of the table speaks. "Nick Bennett. Look, my mother works for Interpol, and if-"

I cut him off. "This is a much bigger deal than Interpol."

He looks away, not saying anything else. By the looks on their faces it seems like none of them have any idea what exactly is going on, but looks can be deceiving.

"Okay, you really have nothing to gamble with here, so it would benefit all of us if you just tell us the truth. But if you don't want to, we can stay here all night," Zach says, and I nod. So much for getting something to eat. Oh well.

"Why don't you start by telling us what you know about the painting in question," I say.

Kat speaks up. She looks us right in the eye, as if all she wants is to get this over with. Her hands are still and her breathing is normal. There is no indication that she is lying. "All we know that it belongs to a man named Goode. We have no idea why it would be of any interest to the CIA."

At the name Goode I immediately tense up, and so does Zach. I look over at him quickly, and a silent message passes between us. _We don't know what this means. Don't say anything yet._

"Me ei saa seda ka veel. Ei nime Goode osana lugu," I say speaking in Estonian. _We can't call it in yet. Not with the name Goode as part of the story. _"Aga me ei saa hoida kahtluse siin, keegi võiks kõndida sisse Lähme tagasi kodubaasi," _But we can't keep questioning here, anyone could walk in. Let's go back to Home Base. _Home Base being my dorm room. It is moments like this when I am thankful I don't have a roommate.

Zach nods and then turns back to the suspects. "We're going on a field trip."

**A/N: Please read and review!**

**Thanks! :)**

**Until next time!**

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	4. Chapter 4 - Kat's POV

**Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Ally Carter except the plot. **

_Chapter 4_

Kat's POV

The two operatives, as they called themselves, begin to walk us somewhere. The girl, Cameron was the name on her badge, and the boy are talking in a language that sounds like a mix of Russian and German, but I can't be completely sure. So far they've talked in five languages which is impressive, even for a person whose family is all spies. I'm pretty sure Uncle Eddie only knows six and from the look of those two they know much more and have way more skills than we do, right now at least.

"Hale," I whisper. "I don't think we're going to be able to get out of this. If they really are CIA, which I'm pretty sure they are, I think we should cooperate. At least for now. We're lucky they haven't already called for backup."

"Okay. What do you think we should do?" Hale replies, not making too much of an effort to keep his voice down, ignoring my motioning. "What? I'm pretty sure they can hear us no matter what volume our voices are at." I give him a questioning look. "The girl stopped talking after you started and she seemed to relax a bit after you mentioned cooperating."

Wow, I think to myself, his con skills really have improved. I reply in a close-to-normal volume voice, "I say we tell them what we know. They have the power now and I don't think we're going to get the painting now anyways, may as well help out. It may get us off easier. So what's your feeling on Goode?"

"His motives did seem a little off." Nick chimes in joining the conversation. "I mean, the drop off location was weird"

"I know. Do you remember that comment he made?" I ask suddenly recalling the unusual, well more unusual than normal, comment he had made just as everyone was about to leave from the meeting. _Make sure you watch your backs while getting this painting, it's got some special security._ I had thought he had just meant some guards near the doors or motion detectors on the paintings, nothing my crew and I couldn't handle. But thinking back on it, he may have been warning us about the operatives. "I'm pretty sure he was warning us about them," I motion to the two people in front of us while voicing my concerns.

"Well he could've straight up told us. Now we're stuck in the hands of the CIA and he's definitely not getting his painting." Hale says angrily.

"Maybe he didn't actually want the painting back, I mean that's what all the evidence points to right now." I say. "I want to find this out, I know you do, and I'm pretty sure that they do to. As I said before, we should work together if we want to actually figure all this out."

"Hey," I continue, making my voice loud enough so that regular people could actually hear me. "We'll tell you about us, what we do, all we know about this painting and heist. As long as you swear to tell what you find out about Goode and why he set us up to be caught."

The two converse for a few moments in another language, Chinese I think, before the boy speaks to us, "Okay, we swear as long as you swear to tell us all information you have and find, we'll do the same."

"We swear." I reply.

"Okay," the girl say and motions to a dorm room to her right, "Here we are." She opens the door and moves into the room. We all follow her into the room while the boys waits behind, he checks the hallway before closing the door. She gestures for us to sit on the bed while the two of them stand in front of us.

"Before we start to tell you everything about us, can we at least get your names?" Gabrielle asks plainly, she had stopped trying to flirt with the guy after she had seen that him and the girl are together.

"Cameron or Cammie," the girl says.

"Zach," the boy replies.

"Thanks, I know that you already know our names but I think we should do some more in depth introductions," I say. "I'm Katarina, Kat for short, as you already know. I'm the unappointed leader of the group. I brought all these people together."

Hale speaks next, "W.W. Hale the fifth," Cammie was about to interrupt but Hale stopped her, "You're not going to find out what the W.W stand for. Kat's been trying for going on three years and she still hasn't found out. I'm the money behind the group. I've also got connections."

"Gabrielle, Kat's cousin. I distract guys and I'm a pretty good con artist." Gabby continues.

"Angus and Hamish," Hamish says. "We're the explosives experts, that ranges from fireworks to bombs."

"Nick, I'm a pretty good con artist too. I'm great at pickpocketing and I've got a good eye for small details."

"And, as I'm pretty sure you've guessed by now, we're con artists," I finish off.

**A/N: Next chapter is up! Please read & review, it makes our day! Constructive criticism is always welcome. **


	5. Chapter 5 - Cammie's POV

**Disclaimer: All rights to Ally Carter.**

_Chapter 5_

Cammie's POV

"Con artists?" Zach says, shaking his head. He leans against the wall, seeming relaxed, but I can see the tightness to his stance, the way his eyes move from each of our "guests" watching them. This image of him leaning against my wall is familiar to me, but it looks so different now. Hale gives Kat a look that seems to say, _do you really think that telling two CIA operatives that we're thieves is the smartest thing to do?_

Hale sighs before answering. "We don't _steal_. We re-steal. We were hired by Goode to get his painting back. He claimed that it had been taken from his family years ago in a robbery, and he had found out that it was going to Georgetown as a gift from a lady named Angela Davis. Goode claimed that her family had been the ones to steal the painting originally. I seemed like an easy job, go in, loop the camera footage, take the painting and leave without a trace.

"We were simply trying to return a family heirloom back to the family, we had no idea about anything else, and we are _terribly_ sorry to have messed with your _CIA mission._ We don't want to be mixed up in any of this, so we'll tell you what we know and then be out of your hair."

"The painting never belonged to a Goode. Angela Davis is an operative who donated the painting to be used for this particular mission. Where did Goode ask you to bring the painting?" Zach asks, completely ignoring Hale's remark about not wanting to be mixed up in this. The message was clear on both of our faces. _You already are. _

At this comment all of them stop, and look to Kat. She looks at them and simply shrugs before turning to Zach and I.

"I'll tell you, but first I think that it is only fair if you tell us a little about you. Now, I' know I'm not some genius, but I'm pretty sure that the CIA doesn't tend to hire college students. How exactly do you work for the CIA?"

_That's classified._ The words are on my tongue and threatening to spill out of my mouth when I quickly swallow them. These people know something, and I have a feeling that whatever is going on here is bigger than anything we could deal with on our own. We could need their help, and the best way to make an ally is to make them feel like you trust them.

"Let's just say that we've had some special training."

"Not all schools teach Civics and Biology," Zach adds, smirking.

"Wait, are you saying there are spy schools?" Gabrielle asks, incredulous. She somehow manages to flip her hair over her shoulder, despite her hands being tied. Zach must notice this as well because he walks over to the desk in the corner of my dorm and retrieves a pair of scissors. He moves over to our six guests and cuts all of their plastic handcuffs. Another rule about making an ally: It is best not to imprison them.

I ignore Gabrielle's question and go back to the topic of the painting. "So where did he tell you to leave it?" I ask, deciding to hold back on questions that are clawing at my mind about the part about them being _thieves_. The last thing I need is to find out they were involved in the stealing of Da Vinci's Angel from the Henley a couple years back. That would be a whole other issue.

"He told us to leave it in some abandoned warehouse, which was a little weird. I just never thought that he was actually setting us up," Kat says, seeming almost angry with herself.

"He was probably just using you as a diversion," I say, looking at Kat sympathetically. "You know, to take suspicion off of the painting and someone stealing it."

"I just don't get it," she says. "What motive does he have for doing all of this?"

"That's what we want to know as well," Zach says. "Cam, Nick how about you go down and see if anything looks wrong with the painting, We'll stay here. I would like to know more about how you managed to loop the footage."

"Sure," I say, looking to Nick. "We'll be back in half an hour."

Nick gets up and joins me by the door. I look to Zach for a single second before walking out of the room, and I swear I see him wink.

**A/N: Hello! What did you think about this chapter? Please read and review! **

**Until next time!**

**-Canadianreaders **


	6. Chapter 6 - Nick's POV

**Disclaimer: All rights to Ally Carter.**

_Chapter 6_

Nick's POV

"So," I say rather awkwardly to the girl next to me. She was kind of cute but by now I was kind of terrified of her, "Spy School, huh? I went to boarding school once. In Belgium. The waffles were great." My ramblings were cut off by her glare and the rest of the walk was made in uncomfortable silence.

Once we reached the library we headed straight for the painting.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" I ask Cammie.

"Anything unusual or out of place."

We continue to stare at the painting for a couple more minutes until I notice that the paint over the middle window on the second floor is slightly raised.

"Hey, do you see that?" I say as I reach towards the painting to touch the window.

"What are you doing!" Cammie exclaims. She tries to stop me from touching the painting but it's too late.

"There's something behind it," I tell her. She starts to pull a pair of tweezers out of her pocket. I give her a weird look, "Why do you carry those around with you?"

She replies as she begins to work on finding out what's behind the paint. "You never know when tweezers will come in handy." She pulls back with a microchip. It's just smaller than my fingertip. "Well this makes things interesting." She doesn't even pause before continuing, "We definitely need to take this back to the room. We'll also need to get a replacement chip incase the CIA come to pick it up sooner than expected."

Cammie is about to continue but Simon walks out from behind a bookshelf holding the same type of memory card that's in Cammie's tweezers. Before I can greet Simon, Cammie pulls me behind her and gets into a defensive pose.

"Woah," Simon says, holding up his hands, "I'm a friend of Nick and Kat's." I nod as Cammie turns to look at me. "I was looping the footage when you and your friend caught everyone. I'm the tech expert of the group by the way. I just happen to carry around extra microchips around. They're useful." He hands the chip over to Cammie. "If you want I can have a go at finding out what's on the microchip. I'm pretty good at cracking codes and decrypting messages. As long as the message isn't the CIA's of course." Cammie looks confused so Simon explains. "There was audio as well as video. I could hear all of you talking while you were in the library."

Cammie nods. "That would be great, thank you." She takes the microchip from Simon and begins to put it back into the painting.

"How do you know the microchip isn't CIA?" I ask her confused.

"The paint," She replies and expands when she sees Simon and I's confused looks. "The place where the microchip was hidden was open. The paint covering the opening was broken. The CIA is never that careless. It was probably Goode that edited the chip and replaced it. Let's go." She finishes putting the chip back in the painting (you can't even tell that we touched it) and we begin to walk towards the doors. Just before we reach them she begins to ask Simon something but he cuts her off again (If this continues it's not going to end well for Simon).

"I already looped the footage, both from when all of you were in there and from just now. Everything's good." Cammie sends him a glare in return.

"You should probably stop interrupting her," I whisper on the way back.

Simon looks at Cammie warily before replying, "Trust me, I know. She's terrifying."

Once we reach the door Cammie unlocks it and Simon and I enter.

As the rest of the team greet Simon I overhear Zach talking to Cammie in the doorway.

"What did you do to them?" He asks her.

She laughs softly under her breath, "I tried channeling a bit of my inner Bex. I'm pretty sure it worked. I've got to go, we can't leave the painting unguarded."

"Okay," Zach says and smiles softly. "Be safe Gallagher Girl. And make sure you pick the rose back up. It was expensive."

As Zach comes back into the room and is introduced to Simon I can't help but think I don't want to meet the real Bex.

**A/N: What did you think of this chapter? Please read and review!**

**Until next time!**

**-Canadianreaders**


	7. Chapter 7 - Zach's POV

**Disclaimer: All rights to Ally Carter**

Chapter 7

_Zach's POV_

When I'm done talking to Cammie, I head back into the dorm and get introduced to Simon.

"Who are you?" I ask the boy they call Simon. I already knew his name but I was just asking to be polite. How Madame Dabney would be proud.

"I'm Simon, I'm a friend of Kat and Nick's." He says. Not important information.

" Well obviously or you wouldn't be here right now" I state. "And…" I continue, trying to persuade him to tell me more.

"Well I'm the tech expert in our group. I can crack codes, decrypt messages, edit footages..." He rambles on.

Amateur. I can't help but think about Liz and Jonas and how bad they would have been able to whoop his butt. However I keep this thought to myself.

"Anyways" I cut him off. " We have found this microchip that was hidden inside the painting. It clearly isn't the CIA's work because they wouldn't have done such a sloppy job of hiding it."

Hamish speaks up. "So what now?"

"I can try and crack the code?" Simon suggests.

Finally we are starting to get somewhere.

I show him to the computer in Cammie's room, so he can see the encryption.

"Wow, who ever encrypted this is really good." Simon states in awe.

Yeah, who ever encrypted this is good, really Goode I think to myself.

"I won't be able to have this done for at least two weeks." Simon tells me after he has scrolled through the codes for at least five minutes.

"That won't work." I state bluntly.

"Why not?" asks Angus, who clearly doesn't know the time constraint that we are in.

"We only have one week." I tell the group. Well actually 6 days 23 hours 45 minutes and 35 seconds but who's counting I think to myself.

"Wait just a second" Simon says. He has been typing on the computer during this whole conversation. "Almost there, just another... Okay so I know know that the message has been edited from its original state. So clearly it wasn't the CIA. My best guess is that it would be Goode."

"Tell me something." I say directing my question at Kat, the leader of their groupe, "What is Goode's first name?"

"Gregory. His name is Gregory Goode" Kat replies in a bored tone. "Why?"

Are you kidding me.

This is not happening.

Of course it is.

Gregory Goode is my mother's, Catherine Goode's, brother. He was supposed to be dead. That's right, not alive, not in a coma, dead buried somewhere underground. I don't know how he was killed but apparently in the situation that he was in, no one would have been able to survive. No one has heard anything from him in at least 10 years. Why now?

"Zach…. Zach!" I hear the girl they call Gabrielle yell my name. I get pulled out of my train of thought.

"Gregory Goode is dead," I say, my voice as dead as he should be.

"No, he's not. How would you know anyways?" Gabrielle asks.

"He died ten years ago. And I would know because he's my uncle."

"What? Is this some kind of family thing, then? Because I am not getting involved in any family drama, we have enough of that already," Gabrielle says pointedly. I have no idea what to think right now, so instead I try to focus on the actual issue at hand.

I ignore her and ask Simon a question. "Is it possible that you can some how crack this in less than a week?"

"No" he tells me, a sound of defeat with his answer.

Realizing I still have my comms unit in my ear, I decide to tell Cammie to come back to the dorm for a second. In less than a minute she is here. With, I would like to add, the rose that I got her in her hand.

"I knew you wouldn't have left it Gallagher Girl." I state with a smirk on my face.

"Would you stop being a cocky jerk and wipe that smirk of your face before I do it for you." She tells me with a smile on hers.

Then Gabrielle speaks up. "Would you two love birds stop flirting and get on with the more important matter that is at hand"

" Ik moet je iets vertellen." _I need to tell you something._ I tell Cammie in Dutch.

" Ik weet al "_I already know. _She replies and points to her ear. She heard the whole conversation through the comms unit.

"We need back up." I state.

A smile slowly creeps onto her face because she knows that we are thinking about the same five people that we are going to call.

**A/N: What did you think of this chapter? Please read and review!**

**Until next time!**

**-Canadianreaders**


	8. Chapter 8 - Bex's POV

**Disclaimer: All rights to Ally Carter.**

Chapter 8

_Bex's POV_

I'm fast asleep on Liz's couch (I can't believe she hasn't gotten a spare bed yet, not even for her best friend!) when the 007 theme song starts to play from my phone. It takes me a second to remember that Zach had set it as his ringtone the last time I came to Washington.

As I reach for my cell Liz stumbles out of her bedroom. "Whoever's calling at this time better have a really good reason," she says threateningly, but only manages to look about as scary as a baby bunny.

"He better," I reply, sliding the button on my screen to answer. I bring the phone up to my ear and begin to talk before I get cut off. "Za-"

"Good morning Ms Baxter," Zach starts (Madame Dabney would have been proud...if he hadn't have cut me off before).

"If you consider this morning," I grumble looking at the blinking 1:57 AM on the clock beside me. "You better have an amazing reason for calling this early because I've been looking for someone to try out some of the new, not completely legal, moves I've learned at M16 and you're looking like the perfect candidate."

Zach replys, sounding entirely too awake for this early, "As much as I would love to practice those maneuvers with you, we happen to have some important things going on over here at Georgetown."

"Get to the point Mr Bond," I say smiling slightly. I would never admit it, ever, but I have missed Zach.

"Well, Cammie and I might have just found out that the message in the piece of art that we are guarding as our CIA mission has been tampered with." Zach blurts out.

"Well haven't you done an absolutely amazing job guarding the painting, Zachy," I say sarcastically.

"Hey!" Zach replies indignantly, "To be fair, the painting wasn't tampered with when we were guarding it. It was during transport."

"Okay, alright. Are you going to tell me how you figured this out and what it's got to do with me or was this just a 'Hey, my missions completely messed up. Hope you're having a good day' call?"

"Nope, this does actually have something to do with you. And with Liz, you're staying with her right?"

"Ya, I'm staying with Liz." At the mention of her name Liz stops from where she was reentering her room to go back to sleep (like I wish I could) and spins around. In her haste to try to get to the couch she manages to trip on every single thing that she could.

"What is it?" Liz asks, she's also way too excited for 2 o'clock in the morning, "Are we all going on another mission together? When do we leave?"

"Calm down Liz. Zach hasn't even told me anything yet," I emphasis the last part, hinting that maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea for Zach to TELL. ME. SOMETHING.

But before Zach can even say anything Liz is attempting to get the phone out of my hands. "Cut it out Lizzie."

"No, I just want to find out what's going on. And clearly I'm not going to find out from you."

"Well, I'd love to tell you if I knew anything."

"C'mon Bex, just let me talk to him."

"But Liz, he called me. I'll tell you as soon as I know."

Zach's voice comes out of the phone, "Ladies, Ladies, there's enough of me to go around."

"Shut it, Goode," I say as I put the phone on speaker, "Just tell us what's going on."

"Well, as I said before,the message in Cam and I's painting has been tampered with," Zach stops me before I can interrupt. "Patience is a virtue, Baxter. I'll start from the beginning. Earlier tonight Cam was guarding the painting when a group of kids came into the library and attempted to steal it. They were stopped by Cam and I, of course. Long story short, turns out that the kids are actually kids that are con artists, so we brought them to Cammie's room.

"After all the introductions and all that other fun stuff Cammie and one of the guys went back to look at the painting, make sure everything was alright, but they found that there was a place where a microchip was hidden. Not unexpected, we knew there was a message there. But the paint covering the microchip wasn't completely sealed, the CIA's never that careless so we knew that the messages been tampered with.

"They brought the microchip back to the room. They had a tech expert - nowhere near as good as Liz, but he's okay - so we got him to look at the microchip. After looking at it, he said it would take him two weeks to decode, but we only have one. The CIA's picking up the message on the 21st. So we thought that it would be a good idea to call in you guys and the rest of the gang to help out. And that's about it."

Liz and I are silent for a moment until I decide to ask the most obvious question, "Why didn't you just tell the CIA? I mean, you'll look a bit like stupid rookies but it wasn't actually your fault and that would've been way easier for you."

Zach pauses for a moment before answering, "Well see this is the best part. The con artists, who, apparently, return stolen art to its true owner, say that a guy named Goode asked them to retrieve the painting for him. It turns out that the Goode happens to be Gregory Goode, the one and only dead uncle of mine."

"Wow," I say, "That certainly makes things a bit more interesting. So, what are we going to do?"

"Well, I was thinking that we could get everyone to meet up here at Georgetown. Liz, Jonas and their tech guy, Simon, could start working on decoding the message. I think what we would need to do is decode the message so that we know where Goode is going to be. Then we can meet him there instead of one of the members of the CIA going, expecting to meet a partner, and getting a giant surprise. Then we can put in another place using the code and put that microchip back in the painting, so we can go meet the CIA people and tell them what's happened.

"I was also thinking that we should send out a team of a few of us to look for my uncle. Just in case we can't decode the message in time." Zach finishes.

"Don't worry," Liz replies, "We'll decode it with plenty of time to spare."

"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched," Zach replies. He's been really into proverbs lately.

"Okay Zach, We'll be there in half an hour," I yawn, I have a feeling I'm not going to get any more sleep tonight. "Gallagher Girls will come to the rescue again."

"What would we do without you?"

**A/N: So what did you think of this chapter? Please read and review!**

**Until next time!**

**-Canadianreaders**


	9. Chapter 9 - Kat's POV

**Disclaimer: Both the Gallagher and Heist Society worlds belong to Ally Carter.**

Chapter 9

_Kat's POV_

Once the guy, Zach, had found out that it would take Simon two weeks to decode the microchip he immediately started calling people. I tried to keep track of the conversations but in the middle of the second I stop. At one point, the second or third call, he was talking to someone named "McHenry", I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about the senator McHenry, the one who almost won last years election, but with what's happened so far tonight I'm not completely sure.

After another 10 minutes or so, Zach hangs up the phone for good. He turns around to look at us, all sitting on one bed (it's not the most comfortable thing).

"I just had a few calls to make," He says.

Everyones silent for a few seconds before I interrupt, "Are you going to tell us about all the people who you just called and invited to our party, because by what I've heard, I think we may need a bigger room."

"I was just calling in Cammie and I's team, of sorts," Zach says, and is quiet for a few seconds, he looks like he's trying to decide how much to tell us. "First off I called Liz and Bex, some of Cammie's old classmates. Liz is a genius and a computers expert, she should be able to help with cracking the code. Bex is basically the female James Bond. British accent and all. Then I called Macey-" Didn't senator McHenry have a daughter named Macey? "-another one of Cammie's classmates, she's now working with the secret service and has some serious connections." As Zach says that I look over and see Hale rolling his eyes, I'm pretty sure he thinks that Macey's connections have nothing on his.

"Next I called one of my classmates, Grant. He has black belts in karate and taekwondo. The fourth person I called was my other classmate, Jonas. He's another tech expert, with his and Liz, oh and Simon's," he seems to add on as an after thought, "expertise we should definitely be able to decode the message. So, that's about it. They should all be able to help work this mess out."

"That's all good. But what about your supposed-to-be-dead uncle?" I ask.

"Well, you might have heard this while I was talking to Liz and Bex, but I was thinking about having half of us stay here and the other half go to look for my completely-not-dead uncle. I have to ask Cammie about it first and we'll have to decide who will get to go out and look for him but I think it's a pretty good safety net just incase we don't manage to decode the chip in time. Does that sound good?" Zach says.

"It sounds okay to me," I reply, "but what is the group that is staying here going to do? I mean other than decoding the chip there's not much to do."

"Someone is going to have to stay with Liz, Jonas and Simon, make sure that nothing goes wrong. Cammie or I, and probably some other people to help out, have to stay to keep the CIA from being suspicious. I'm sure some problems are going to arise here. And you're right about needing a bigger room. All the rest of our party should be arriving within the next few hours so we really need to sort it out."

Just as Zach finishes the sentence the door begins to open(He really should have locked it!) and a man, who looks to be around 30, enters the room.

"Cammi-" he starts to say before noticing all of my gang sitting on the bed. He turns to Zach, an exasperated look on his face. "Zach, what have you done now?"

**A/N: Hey! Thoughts on this chapter? Hope you enjoyed it! Please read and review!**

**Until next time!**

**-Canadianreaders**


	10. Chapter 10 - Townsend's POV

**Disclaimer: All rights to Ally Carter.**

_Chapter 10_

Townsend's POV

"It's not like I haven't walked in on you in here before, but in the past there have never been this many people," I say, my eyes gazing over the other people in the room. When I signed up to be Zach and Cammie's supervisor at Georgetown, I was not expecting to have to deal with them kidnapping seven 15 year-olds. But yet, here I stand in Cammie's dorm room, face to face with said 15 year olds and an annoyed looking Zach. It seems as if that is his only emotion around me.

"This is Kat, Hale, Gabrielle, Simon, Nick, Hamish, and Angus. They're con artists," Zach says by way of explanation.

"Oh, why thank you for that introduction Zachary, but why are these supposed child con artists here?" I inquire, patience wearing thin. Zach's stare goes cold, and I mentally curse myself. It seems that I can never say the right thing to him.

"They were hired to steal the painting," Zach says plainly. My eyes go wide, but Zach simply stands there, watching me, smirking. I can't believe he doesn't see the magnitude of this. Children.

"And why was I not called?" I ask, stress seeping into my voice. Well, I guess I wouldn't even be here right now if they had actually _remembered _to call in. "May I remind you, Zachary, that this painting is of great importance at the CIA. They need to be told of this."

"Calm down. There is more to the story," Zach says, crossing his arms. "They were hired to steal the painting by someone who claims that the painting originally belonged to them. They were also told to leave the painting at an abandoned warehouse. This ticked us off that something wasn't right. So we went and looked at the painting, and sure enough the paint over the spot with the microchip has been tampered with. Someone obviously messed with the message on the microchip, and sent in these 'child con artists' knowing we would catch them, and it would take suspicion off the painting. We can't tell the CIA because they would never believe us. And because the person who is doing all of this is supposed to be dead."

"Okay," I say, taking in all of this information. What he is saying does make sense, I'll give him that. "Who exactly is this _someone?_"

"You're going to love this," he says with a smirk. "Gregory Goode."

Oh bloody hell.

I've only met him once, but from my experience, Gregory makes Catherine look like the sane sibling. This is going to be one interesting job.

"So what's the plan?" I ask.

"Half of us will stay here and try to crack the code, the other half will go after Gregory in case we don't crack it in time. I've already called Bex, Liz, Macey, Grant and Jonas. I figured you'd like to be the one to call Abby," Zach says, smirking slightly.

"I will," I say pulling my phone out of my pocket. But right before I dial the number, the little brunette girl - I think Zach said her name was Kat - speaks up.

"Um, sorry to interupt, but who exactly are you?"

"Agent Edward Townsend," I say. "Zach and Cammie's supervisor. And Zach's father."

I catch Zach's icy stare before turning away and calling Abby.

She picks up on the first ring. "Abigail," I say smoothly.

"Edward. To what do I owe this early morning pleasure?" She sounds only slightly groggy, as if used to surprise phone calls at 3am. Which, I guess she must be.

"No need to be so flattered, Abigail. It's only me," I say, a smile somehow making it's way onto my face. I'm just glad that she can't see me right now, or I would never hear the end of it. "We have a job. And before you decline, this one has to do with your favourite person, Catherine. Well, more specifically her brother, Gregory, but they have always been 2 peas in pod, I'm sure you know that."

I quickly explain to her what is going on, trying not to leave anything out. Once I'm done I hear her exasperated sigh, and I can almost see that cute little crinkle that appears between her eyebrows whenever she is thinking.

"Some supervisor you are, Edward. May I ask what you were doing when this was all happening? Sleeping peacefully, dreaming about - never mind, scratch that. I know that you don't dream. Too cliche, right? No, too happy? That's probably it."

"First off, supervisor does not mean babysitter, Abigail. I am not supposed to be with them every second of the day. And they seem to have the situation pretty much under control. Your niece, my son. What did you expect? And secondly," I say, and I can hear Zach scoffing behind me, mumbling something that sounds like 'just get on with it'. "I do, of course, dream. I am not _that_ drab. Usually my dreams consist of me having to save you time and time again from your reckless behaviour. Doesn't sound too different from reality, does it?"

"Will you please cast your mind back to Buenos Aires? Because I distinctly remember a certain british snob hanging off the side of a six story building with seven different weapons pointed at him from places he could not even see. And me having to come in to save the day," She quips back at me.

"First off, it was a four story building, and there were only six snipers. Embellishment only makes you look childish, Abigail."

"Did I not mention the part about the british snob not being able to _see_ them all?" she pauses, and we lapse into silence. I would think she had hung up on me if it were not for her soft breathing on the other end of the line. Then, "I had fun the other night."

I can't help the smile this time. "So did I. I'll see you in twenty minutes."

I quickly hang up the phone and turn back around to see eight teenagers staring at me. Seven of which look very confused. The other is just smirking. Typical.

"She's coming," I say to Zach, folding my arms across my chest.

He just rolls his eyes at me and says, "I will never understand your flirting."

**A/N: Hello! Sorry this chapter is late, we have exams this week and just totally forgot to post this! Please read and review!**

**Until next time!**

**-Canadianreaders**


	11. Chapter 11 - Macey's POV

**Disclaimer: All rights to Ally Carter.**

_Chapter 11_

Macey's POV

"Ugh," I mumble, rubbing my eyes, "Couldn't this whole emergency waited until a normal hour? Maybe 9? You know, when my brain is actually functioning?"

Preston laughs a breathy laugh and puts his arm around my shoulder. "Come on, the spy life doesn't wait for anyone, isn't that what you're always telling me?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it can't wait for me," I say begrudgingly, but I know he's right. Superspy CIA emergencies don't happen all the time, but when they do it is usually a drop-everything-and-go situation.

"I can't believe he has another evil relative," Preston says, talking about Zach. "How messed up can one family get? I guess I'm not one to talk, though."

"I think he was surprised too," I say, remembering Zach's uncomfortable voice on the phone. He may have been trying to sound board - classic Goode - but it was not very hard to see through. "He thought his Uncle was dead."

"Yeah," we're both silent for a moment, our footsteps the only noise as they hit the pavement, carrying us through Georgetown's campus towards Cam's dorm. I've been here so many times, I know the route by heart. Then Preston chuckles slightly, and I look up at him.

"What?"

"Nothing, just thinking," he says. We reach the door to Cammie's dorm, and Preston pulls it open. "You know, about how two years ago my biggest issue was what my next school assignment was, and now I'm dating a spy, and about to go to a meeting about how best to save the CIA from destruction because of an evil psychopath."

"I haven't been in this much longer than you have. Four years ago my biggest issue was trying to figure out what the best way to aggravate my parents was."

"Yeah well," he says scratching the back of his neck. I can see the worry and doubt clear on his face. He's always been somewhat of an open book. "I still feel so _overwhelmed_. This is what you do, I'm just a student. I just feel like I'm going to screw this up."

"You're going to be fine, I promise," I say, looking up at him. We've almost reached Cam's dorm room now, it's just around the corner. "And if you mess something up, then oh well. You'll do better next time."

He smiles, and takes my hand as we walk around the corner, almost _literally _running right into Bex, Liz, Abby, Grant, and Jonas. This sure is going to be one interesting reunion.

In a split second Bex, Liz and I are wrapped up in a group hug, almost falling over with the force. Note: Three trained spies (even if one is on the research track) who haven't seen each other in eight months can be quite dangerous.

When we pull away from each other, a huge smile on all of our faces, I turn to Abby.

"Hi," I say before giving her a quick hug.

"Hey," she says back, a small smile on her face. "How are you doing at the agency, McHenry?"

"Good. It's exactly what I thought it would be like. I'm happy."

Out of the corner of my eye I see Preston talking nervously to Grant and Jonas, seeming slightly out of place. I am about to go save him when the door to Cam's dorm room opens, and no other than Zachary Goode stands there, smirking. Always smirking. I don't know how Cam can stand it.

"I don't mean to break up this reunion or anything, but I think it's a good idea if you come inside. You know, so we don't wake up the rest of the campus at 3 in the morning."

I roll my eyes but make my way towards the door, nodding to Zach as I pass him.

"Goode."

He nods back, "McHenry. Good to see you again."

"You too," I say, as he closes the door behind Jonas, who is the last of our little 'party' to walk through the door. "Where's Cam?"

"In an air vent," he says and I nod, no more questions needed.

Zach turns his attention towards Bex, who immediately hugs him, and then starts talking about the newest thing she's learned at MI6. Something about being able to kill a man with just a ring. She'll have to teach me that. Fashion and espionage together? I'm in.

I then turn my attention towards the six teenagers sitting on the bed, all looking slightly taken aback by the influx of people. There's one boy who catches my eye, he's tall with light brown hair, and has an air about him that is all too familiar to me. The air that so many people have that I just happen to have to associate with, the air of a bored billionaire. I simply roll my eyes and make my way back to Zach who is now talking to Preston, hoping that he is not like every other bored billionaire I know. But my guess is he probably is.

"So, Goode," I say as I get closer, moving to stand beside Preston, "planning on actually telling us who these people are soon? Or are we just going to wait for dramatic effect?"

"Right," he says turning towards the rest of the group. "This is Kat, Hale, Nick, Gabrielle, Hamish, Angus, and Simon," As he says their names, each of the teenagers gives a small wave, well, except for Hale, who simply rolls his eyes. "They're the crew who tried to steal the painting. They're actually not too bad."

"Well thank you for the complement," Hale says rather sarcastically, standing up. "But do you have any interest in telling us who any of the members of _your _team are? You know, besides Macey McHenry and Preston Winters. Everyone in America knows who they are. Tell me, how can you be a spy if everyone knows your face?"

"Very easily actually," I say, cocking a hip, "if you're good. And I could say the same thing to you, _Hale_, sole heir to one of the world's biggest companies. But I would assume you have the same answer I do," he smirks and I roll my eyes. "Anyways, this is Bex, Liz, Abby, Grant and Jonas."

"Well now that we've all been introduced," I say, crossing my arms over my chest. "Let's get started, shall we?"

**A/N: Hey guys! What did you think of this chapter? Please read & review!**

**Until next time!**

**- Canadianreaders**


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